Tom Gabel — Heart Burns EP

As the frontman of Against Me!, Tom Gabel is one of the foremost punk songwriters of the last five years. He's also a political activist, so it probably shouldn't be that surprising that his debut solo release, Heart Burns, came out a week before the U.S. presidential election. As is to be expected, it's got the usual Against Me! style anti-war protest songs. But this time around is that Gabel uses programmed drum beats on several of the disc's tracks. He did most of the instrumentation by himself, with the exception of a handful of songs, which makes the disc a bit more like early Reinventing Axl Rose-era Against Me! than the Gainesfille, Fla. band's more recent work. The exception is "Anna Is A Stool Pigeon," a track which manages to be hilarious and sad at once. It's about an activist who falls head over heels for another activist — only to discover she's an FBI informant. He ends up in a penitentiary. While it contains the brand of sardonic humour that Gabel's exhibited so well in Against Me!, its subject matter also manages to be original. Aside from that track, Heart Burns is mostly unremarkable. It's worth buying if you're an Against Me! completist, but don't expect anything super-revelatory.

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